The future ain’t what it used to be. What’s more, it never was.

For one, it’s coming at us so fast that some of it has already become past. Such is the nature of 21st-century change. In that light, here are 30 expectations for what your job, work, workplace, career and life are likely to look like just six short years from now.

1. The first person to live to 150 has already been born. We may be able to identify that person long beforehand.
2. AI will have either taken over or infused nearly everything. Those who get with it early will prosper; those Luddites who refuse or resist … well … sorry.
3. Nanorobots will navigate your bloodstream to spot problems no other imaging technology could ever before detect.
4. Genome sequencing and gene splicing will predict and prevent diseases before they happen, wipe out others, combat epidemics and—overall—lead to much longer, healthier lives.
5. All 4 quadrillion connections in the human brain will be mapped. This project has been under way for more than a decade.
6. “Super lenses” will ensure perfect vision forever. No human hands will be needed to implant them, either.
7. Your annual physical will be done remotely.
8. “Organ chips” will render obsolete things like animal trials and human trials. Then AI will render the chips obsolete before they’re institutionalized.
9. MRIs will be done in seconds, not 20 minutes, and they’ll be done by collapsable devices the size of a current-day laptop.
10. Scientists will discover evidence of dark matter and reveal the origins of the universe. Dark energy? This could be only a decade or so away.
11. We will find life beyond earth and establish a colony on Mars. We will also see a military battle fought entirely in space. Why not? We haven’t yet learned to prevent war here on earth.
12. Fusion energy, although still 25 years from popular usage, will be in development stages.
13. The science of propulsion will be critical. Instead of 165 days to get to Mars, how’s a week? Instead of burning fuel, how about shooting photons around? Deceleration will become more important than acceleration.
14. Drones will be more common than cars and will have far more diversified applications.
15. Vertical farming will become an urban occupation—and will actually increase the percentage of Americans engaged in farming—for the first time since 1776.
16. Undersea mining of vast amounts of minerals will wield untold wealth and power.
17. Robots will be absolutely everywhere and within the financial reach of most of us.
18. Bridges, built of organic concrete, will repair themselves.
19. We import or export huge amounts of garbage in order to generate power. (Some European nations are already doing it.)
20. You’ll fly from New York to London in two hours. Leave New York for an NBA game in London, be back in New York for late supper and regular bedtime, and be back at work next day, no jet lag.
21. Graphene, the strongest material on earth made from the most common substance on earth (carbon), will dominate manufacturing, construction – everything we do.
22. Scrolls will replace laptops, tablets, and other not-so-flat devices.
23. Additive (3D) printing will change manufacturing like nothing since the Industrial Revolution.
24. Digital “ants” will protect the U.S. power grid from cyberattacks.
25. You’ll live in really smart homes that will do what needs to be done, not the other way around.
26. We’ll all work four-day weeks (eventually), spending more time in pursuit of leisure than work.
27. And data will be measured in Zettabytes. What’s a zettabyte? 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
28. Hybrid workplaces will mean more than working off-site two days a week. Through AI and avatars, you’ll all sit and interact in the same room, no matter where in the world you are.
29. We’ll see the resurrection of extinct species and rebalancing of the ecosystem. Here are some critical species that have gone extinct since 1950: Passenger Pigeon, Caribbean Monk Seal, Baiji River Dolphin, Spix’s Macaw, Javan Tiger, Samoan Clouded Leopard. We could bring those and other beauties back.
30. And finally, umpires and referees will no longer be seen on the sports playing fields. Think about it. This one’s easy.

Skeptical? Save my number and call me in six years. Meanwhile, 2030 is almost here.

Career Coach Eli Amdur provides top-notch one-on-one coaching in job search, résumés, interviewing, career planning and executive development. Reach him at [email protected] or 201-357-5844.